Show FIRST AID TO INJURED interesting and educational contest at state fair at trinidad the Aloun mountain tain states monitor the trinidad las animas county fair held at trinidad september to was without question the most successful ever held by that organization from r rom side shows to horse races every exhibition was uniformly good the thoroughly enthusiastic booster spirit was everywhere in evidence and the mountain states telephone and telegraph company came in for no small share of credit telephones were conveniently placed for use of both the public and the fair officials and the drinking cups even though they bore the old familiar colorado telephone company name were none the less extensively put to service the exhibitions which created the largest attendance and which excited the greatest interest however were the first aid and helmet contests held on the third day of the fair these contests demonstrated more forcibly than anything ever yet witnessed the incomparable value of the telephone for saving human life in case of mine disasters to explain more fully practically all mines maintain what is known as a first aid team and a great many mines also have helmet teams it is the duty of the first aid team to gain useful medical knowledge and to hold themselves trained and in readiness to render first aid in case of disaster As the vic victims tinis are brou brought ht outside the mine or carried to any safe place the first aid teams cauterize the wounds and dress them place splints for broken bones and in general work wor ac to revive and properly care for the injured person in the contests held here each of the se first aid teams entered was called upon to care for a miner with injuries such as 1 broken spine 2 broken arm and leg 3 broken rib etc in judging the results time was not considered although it is always a more or less important factor the judges paid more attention to proper bandaging stopping flow of blood inge ingenuity guity in using available material consistent with best results etc for instance the winning primero team instead of providing themselves with a regulation stretcher as did mos most t of the other teams made use of long coal drills and constructed their stretcher from these drills it was rather surprising to note that these miners had an elementary medical knowledge which in the time of disaster would r nean mean the saving of many lives the work of the helmet teams while not so spectacular was really a greater demonstration of actual life saving for this contest a building was constructed representing as nearly as possible the inside of a V 41 15 N 9 nt X X ak law a V tw 17 n V 4 ja effal 1 0 awon URI MINI awn ff 1 wu reg gg i an 0 ag hjal c rth q V M AP rol 1 09 4 irn low Q A JAM 14 N X mine tunnel the pit was then filled with sulp sulphur hur fumes by spilling powdered sulphur upon a small fire and it was reckoned that these fumes were as deadly as any which might be encountered in an actual mine explosion in fact it was learned from a reliable authority that human life could not endure in this imitation tunnel after the first few breaths so it may be concluded that these helmet tests were about as real as was possible to make them thein each team that entered the pit consisted of the captain and three men and it was their duty to rescue a man supposedly overcome with gas in the tunnel all of the rescuers were fitted with helmets which generated and supplied the wearers bearers with proper breathing air A respiratory apparatus was also carried to be used in reviving the victim eight teams were entered in the contest and all of them made excellent showings in case of an actual explosion or accident the telephone gets a rescuing party into action in about one fifth tho the time ordinarily required for a messen messenger ger to make the crip outside and back tn mine ekpo expo explosions it usually happens that by far the greater per cent of fatalities are due to after damp and miners in remote parts of the mine are sometimes unaware of the explosion or in the absence of definite knowledge take the wrong course in trying to get out in this manner they run into the dangerous area instead of away from it in any event it is acknowledged that a rescue team in any mine is only half efficient in the absence of telephone communication ni cation throughout the mine the contests were witnessed by a large number of mining officials and by representatives senta tives from twelve states of the union according to a statement of J C roberts engineer of the united states bureau of mines the trinidad meet was the second largest ever held in the world |